Sarah, thank you once again for your thorough and thoughtful essay. Damien and Phil are pigs. The entire BoD of Fencing should be sued individually and as a group for their long documented support of discrimination against women.
And USOPC Sarah Hirchfeld is an abomination of a woman. She had the perfect opportunity to address this issue with professionalism and leadership, but instead she became a weasel. She sold out to virtue signaling and lack of courage. She will go down in history as a woman who made sure all elite sportswomen are discriminated against. Perhaps a boycott of 2028 Olympics in LA is imminent.
Amazing. This story has it all, but the particular detail wherein Lehfeldt -- the man with all the power-- confabulates a prompt just so he can show off some aspirational online viciousness -- that's next level. That raises it to potential Blocked & Reported material. Let's try and get Jesse and Katie's attention!!
I've commented this elsewhere but as long as recycling oneself is legal:
Based on strictly personal experience that, weirdly for a peasant like me, includes some fencing, I have long believed that the overlap between men who coach females and men with a sadistic streak against females is pretty generous.
This Lehfeldt character isn't exactly helping assuage my reservations.
Not much progress. These men are absolutely shameless and very aggressive.
In the UK, the Supreme Court recognized that there are two sexes. But the usual trans nonsense continues: men are allowed to compete in the women’s category in the London Marathon.
I am reminded by Kim Jones at ICONS that there is not a single US national sports organization that has made the female category female-only. Not one. Really how hard can it be to do something so obviously fair and right? And what does that say about how the U.S. sees women?
I'm curious, how did you hear about USATF if it's not on their website? I know after the 2023 WA protection of elite women's category and then after EOs, USATF just deleted everything regarding men in the female category from their website. So I wonder where you heard this
"Further, effective January 1, 2023... It is crucial for USATF to adhere to all World Athletics regulations in order to ensure that its athletes are fully equipped to succeed in international competition."
And Tracy Sundlun, 6x Olympic track coach and member of the Women's Sports Policy Working Group, confirmed it with the head of the USATF.
Which makes a certain sense in light of current alignments in American politics (NAIA member schools are mostly small Bible colleges) but, still, at least one institutional stand is being taken for Female athletes.
Right. I was thinking more of national governing bodies like USA Cycling, USA Track and Field, USA Fencing, and so on. But you are right about the NAIA—a bright spot in a very grim field
Excellent in depth report, Sarah. Great to see misogyny recorded. Afor historical evidence. Women will not give up stating our rights and speaking out against gender ID lies.
“He just wanted women to shut up and deal with the injustice quietly, like they always had.” This is the crux of the problem. Thank you for your excellent article.
Fencing is a growing sport. I read somewhere that in 2000 there were only 3000 competitive fencers. Now it’s at 25000. The number of kids fencing has grown. My daughter fences and it’s really cutthroat even in the Y12 division. A LOT of Asians in this age group. Many years from college applications. It’ll be interesting to see how long USFA can continue with their policies once Asian parents realize it’s a dead end for their daughter’s college applications and they all drop out en masse. Right now no one’s complaining because they are oblivious but once they realize the unfairness of it it won’t be long before these men are voted out. They will probably lose a lot of memberships. My daughters fencing school shut down because parents pulled their daughters out of fencing entirely and her coach couldn’t afford to keep it open. When fencing schools start shutting down and USFA starts laying off people they’ll finally wake up. It’s how Newsom woke up when Asian heavy districts started voting red. It’s why he changed his tune. The next few years will get interesting for fencing.
Sarah, thank you once again for your thorough and thoughtful essay. Damien and Phil are pigs. The entire BoD of Fencing should be sued individually and as a group for their long documented support of discrimination against women.
And USOPC Sarah Hirchfeld is an abomination of a woman. She had the perfect opportunity to address this issue with professionalism and leadership, but instead she became a weasel. She sold out to virtue signaling and lack of courage. She will go down in history as a woman who made sure all elite sportswomen are discriminated against. Perhaps a boycott of 2028 Olympics in LA is imminent.
Amazing. This story has it all, but the particular detail wherein Lehfeldt -- the man with all the power-- confabulates a prompt just so he can show off some aspirational online viciousness -- that's next level. That raises it to potential Blocked & Reported material. Let's try and get Jesse and Katie's attention!!
Done and done
Great article Sarah: so comprehensive and well-written. It really exposes the deeply entrenched ongoing misogyny.
Excellent, Sarah. Thanks so much.
I've commented this elsewhere but as long as recycling oneself is legal:
Based on strictly personal experience that, weirdly for a peasant like me, includes some fencing, I have long believed that the overlap between men who coach females and men with a sadistic streak against females is pretty generous.
This Lehfeldt character isn't exactly helping assuage my reservations.
It difficult to read this. What is the point of a female category at all, if men play in it? It sounds like USFA needs new leadership.
Not much progress. These men are absolutely shameless and very aggressive.
In the UK, the Supreme Court recognized that there are two sexes. But the usual trans nonsense continues: men are allowed to compete in the women’s category in the London Marathon.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14651559/amp/British-Olympic-swimming-heroine-Sharron-Davies-blasts-London-Marathon-organisers-anti-women-allowing-trans-females-compete-Sundays-main-race.html
I am reminded by Kim Jones at ICONS that there is not a single US national sports organization that has made the female category female-only. Not one. Really how hard can it be to do something so obviously fair and right? And what does that say about how the U.S. sees women?
Hi Sarah, love this article.
USA Powerlifting excludes all males from the women's category: https://www.usapowerlifting.com/transgender-participation-policy/#:~:text=Powerlifting%20is%20a%20strength%20sport,what%20their%20medical%20needs%20are.
as does USA Track and Field, which recently decided to follow World Athletics, tho the USA T&F website does not reflect this yet.
I'm curious, how did you hear about USATF if it's not on their website? I know after the 2023 WA protection of elite women's category and then after EOs, USATF just deleted everything regarding men in the female category from their website. So I wonder where you heard this
I had to dig a bit. World Athletics announcement: https://worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/world-athletics-launches-new-stakeholder-consultation-on-female-eligibility
Below: USATF saying it follows World Athletics as of 2023:
https://www.usatf.org/governance/policies/usatf-statement-regarding-transgender-transsexual-
"Further, effective January 1, 2023... It is crucial for USATF to adhere to all World Athletics regulations in order to ensure that its athletes are fully equipped to succeed in international competition."
And Tracy Sundlun, 6x Olympic track coach and member of the Women's Sports Policy Working Group, confirmed it with the head of the USATF.
That is good news!
The trans thing is so entrenched. Sad.
One, at least—the NAIA: https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/7/1/km8kb6o1n99bdn/TG_Policy_for_webpage_v2.pdf
Which makes a certain sense in light of current alignments in American politics (NAIA member schools are mostly small Bible colleges) but, still, at least one institutional stand is being taken for Female athletes.
Right. I was thinking more of national governing bodies like USA Cycling, USA Track and Field, USA Fencing, and so on. But you are right about the NAIA—a bright spot in a very grim field
Excellent in depth report, Sarah. Great to see misogyny recorded. Afor historical evidence. Women will not give up stating our rights and speaking out against gender ID lies.
“He just wanted women to shut up and deal with the injustice quietly, like they always had.” This is the crux of the problem. Thank you for your excellent article.
Her prayer got me. 🥹
Fencing is a growing sport. I read somewhere that in 2000 there were only 3000 competitive fencers. Now it’s at 25000. The number of kids fencing has grown. My daughter fences and it’s really cutthroat even in the Y12 division. A LOT of Asians in this age group. Many years from college applications. It’ll be interesting to see how long USFA can continue with their policies once Asian parents realize it’s a dead end for their daughter’s college applications and they all drop out en masse. Right now no one’s complaining because they are oblivious but once they realize the unfairness of it it won’t be long before these men are voted out. They will probably lose a lot of memberships. My daughters fencing school shut down because parents pulled their daughters out of fencing entirely and her coach couldn’t afford to keep it open. When fencing schools start shutting down and USFA starts laying off people they’ll finally wake up. It’s how Newsom woke up when Asian heavy districts started voting red. It’s why he changed his tune. The next few years will get interesting for fencing.